


one seems to hear words of good cheer

by carrieevew



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mistletoe, Neighbors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 20:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8911663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrieevew/pseuds/carrieevew
Summary: based on a prompt: Character A bakes too many Christmas cookies so they share it with Character B.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this may or may not be inspired by the true story of my utter, utter culinary incompetence. 
> 
> title from _**[Carol of the Bells](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9GtPX6c_kg)**_
> 
> hope you enjoy it!

Something fell on the floor with a loud _clang_ in the apartment on the other side of Bellamy’s wall. The sound was followed by an equally loud string of invectives and Bellamy smiled lightly.

In the three years that passed since Clarke had moved in next door, he’d gotten used to all kinds of unexpected sounds coming from her place. She might’ve been a doctor by day but she was definitely an artist at heart and she liked to spend her days off expressing herself in any way she could find – she was painting, drawing, sculpting and trying out various crafting ideas.

This time though, judging by the faint smell in the hallway, it seemed like she was baking something. Not necessarily anything edible because in all the time they’d known each other Bellamy had also learnt that while she could follow a simple recipe, cooking was not one of her strong suits.

There was another sound then, this time of a plate shattering on the floor, followed closely by the unmistakable shriek of Charlie, Clarke’s cat. She liked to sit on the counter when Clarke would prepare food and apparently had no long-term memory because after a year, she’d still step on the stove, surprised that it was hot.

Bellamy put down the book he was reading and leaned forward in his seat. A few minutes later, he heard Clarke’s door opening and closing, and then, right on cue, there was a knock on his own door. He smirked as he opened it and saw his neighbour, wearing an apron with a naked male body printed on it. Her arms were covered in flour to her elbows and she had white smudges on her forehead and hair, probably from trying to keep it away from her eyes.

“Do you have some trays?” she asked in a lieu of greeting and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, leaving a bit of flour there. Bellamy felt the urge to brush it off but kept his hands to himself. Clarke looked at him with the question in her eyes.

“Um, yeah, sure. How many do you need?” he asked, gesturing for her to come inside.

“Well, how many can I get?” she said with a faint smile. “’Cause I need _a lot_. It kinda—got away from me.” Clarke carried on with an exasperated expression that explained absolutely nothing, while Bellamy picked up the tray, as well as a couple of cutting boards. Clarke nodded enthusiastically seeing his offer. She took the tray from him and waved her hand, inviting him to follow her before running off to her apartment.

Her kitchen was an absolute mess. There was even more flour covering the counter and the floor, a few eggshells laying here and there. And every flat surface in sight was covered in trays, boards and dishes, freshly baked ginger bread cookies cooling on them.

Clarke hurried to the oven and pulled out another portion, moving them to Bellamy’s tray quickly, before placing more raw cookies and shoving it inside. She closed the doors and leaned against the counter, letting out a sigh.

Bellamy placed the cutting boards on her dining table, taking in the sight.

“You plan on feeding the army now?” he asked, one of his eyebrows raised.

“It was an accident, okay?” she huffed. “There weren’t _supposed to_ be that many.”

“How do you make that many ginger breads by accident? Did you have a recipe?”

“Yes!” She threw her hands in the air, a faint mist of flour flying around her. She pressed her hand against her forehead for a moment and then continued. “It was my grandmother’s old recipe that we would use when I was a kid. I found it some time ago and I figured—Christmas is coming, that seems fitting.”

“Still waiting for that accident.” Bellamy grinned at her and she sent him an unimpressed look, her eyes narrowing lightly.

“Well, it was a very vague recipe, okay? It was all—add about this much of one thing and a pinch of something else and you _know_ that I’m not good with that. I need specific instructions but my grandmother always said ‘just keep adding things until the dough feels right’. So I did?”

“Until you ran out of ingredients?” Bellamy asked, dubiously, suppressing a smile.

“Kind of?” She grimaced. “I didn’t even realise how much I had until I was out of eggs. And now I have this,” she gestured around her, arms flailing and she blew an exasperated puff of air that moved a few tendrils of hair surrounding her face.

And that was about enough for him. Bellamy burst into laugh with a loud snort. She sent him the dirtiest look in the world but that only spurred him on even further. She pushed herself off the counter and rested her hands on her hips.

“Stop laughing, you asshole” she whined. “It’s like 250 cookies, what the hell am I supposed to do with that?!”

Bellamy finally stopped laughing and cleared his throat. “Okay, first – I’m gonna take a picture of all of _this_ because I’m gonna need proof when I’m telling everyone about it,” he said and Clarke just made a face.

“Are they even any good?” he asked and saw that Clarke starter to open her mouth, probably to scold him for doubting her abilities but then closed it quickly, pursing her lips a little. That was not a battle she would win.

“Yes, they’re good,” she confirmed. “And yes, I have actually tasted them and I’m not just saying that.” She smirked and grabbed one of the ginger bread men. She bit off his head and chewed loudly, as if trying to prove that they were actually edible.

Bellamy approached one of the trays as if were a wild animal and Clarke huffed at him. He sent her a wide smile, grabbed one of the cookies and took a large bite. And boy, was it _good_. By some sorts of a Christmas miracle, throwing all the ingredients together at random actually worked for her. Bellamy let out a soft moan of appreciation and Clarke smirked at him smugly.

“Would you like me to leave the two you alone?” She crossed her arms on her chest, pushing her breast together and for a second Bellamy’s brain went blank before settling back on remembering the ridiculous crush he had on Clarke.

They had a rather rocky relationship, at first. She made an entire spectacle of her moving in, all but claiming the elevator and every square meter of hallways between the moving van and her front door which was what Bellamy came home to after the longest day at work. First, his AP students kept on complaining about the essay he assigned them and then, during the faculty meeting, he’d been distracted enough for principal Kane to manoeuvre him into chaperoning the Homecoming dance. He’d been pissed already and having to climb up four flights of stairs because _someone_ couldn’t get her shit together and had to get the entire building engaged… well, that was entirely too much for him and when he finally reached his apartment and saw the blonde princess just standing in the hallway, laughing with someone, he snapped and practically started yelling at her. The girl seemed quite taken aback at first, which gave Bellamy a sick sense of satisfaction but then she quickly recovered and gave back as good as she got. Her friend pulled her back after a few minutes of their argument and she composed herself but the anger never left her eyes. Bellamy felt her eyes drilling a hole in his head as he grunted, opened the door to his apartment and went inside. He was pulling his shoes off when he heard her annoyed groan, followed by her friend’s chuckle.

“Good to know you’re making friends already,” he said, voice amused. She shot back a quick ‘shut up, Wells’ and stomped away.

For the next couple of months they were shooting each other death glares whenever they would meet in the hallway but then Bellamy slipped under the shower and hit his head on the bathroom floor. He’d seen her wearing scrubs a few times, so he’d swallowed his pride, pulled on some clothes and knocked on her door, hoping she was in fact a medical professional and not a dental hygienist or a lab technician.

She opened the door and looked at him with suspicion, taking in his olds sweats and a pullover, but then she clearly noticed the bloody towel he was pressing to the back of his head. She ushered him inside, pushed him down to sit on one of her dining chairs and pulled a medical bad of thin air.

“I’m really hoping you are a doctor, Princess,” he finally spoke and she furrowed her brow at the nickname as she pulled out a pair of rubber gloves.

She stood behind him, pushed his hand and a towel away, and prodded a his wound, making him wince slightly. “Sorry about that. But yes, I am. Well, technically still an intern but I can tell you with all my medical knowledge, you need stitches.” She moved to stand in front of him and Bellamy looked up at her. “I could do this here if you trust me with the needle.” There was a question in her voice and he nodded at her.

“I’d trust you more if you told me your name,” he tried for teasing but it came out really weak. She still smiled at him gently and he couldn’t help reciprocating.

“I’m Clarke,” she said, pulling more things from her bag and he responded with his own name. “Nice to meet you, Bellamy.” There was something in her face that felt like this was a peace offering. A chance for them to start over, all previous experiences forgotten.

Bellamy inclined his head. “Nice to meet you, too,” he said, watching her thread the needle and rip a packet open, taking out a swab, the unmistakable smell of antiseptic filling the room. She stood behind him again and got to work.

And after that, things between then escalated quickly. All of a sudden, they were bumping into each other in so many random places around their neighbourhood that at some point, they started to joke about it, then talk about everything else and actually plan to meet, since they were going to the same places after all. Within a year Clarke became a very close friend, spending almost all of their free time together. Their other friends quickly got to know each other as well and now, after three years they all made up a little family.

Somewhere in a meantime, Bellamy developed a crush on his best friend and whenever he thought about it, he knew it was kind of inevitable. For all that Clarke was nothing like the girls he used to hook up when he was in college, it turned out she was everything he actually wanted. She was smart, well-read, with a quick and sharp sense of humour. As he got to know her, he’d learnt she was loyal and caring, always willing to stand up for the people she loved and no matter how much she teased him about acting like a pensioner, he knew that after a long week at work, her favourite thing to do was to come to his place and nap on his couch when he graded papers or watched something on TV.

Their friends sew through him so quickly that he was almost embarrassed and they have been teasing him ever since, calling them an old married couple. The first time Miller said it, Bellamy shot Clarke a slightly worried look, wondering how she’d react but Clarke just snorted and went back to her conversation with Raven.

Fast forward two years and not much had changed. Bellamy would say that they’d grown even closer, if he thought that was actually even possible but aside some flirting here and there and an occasional steamy dream that made Bellamy unable to look her in the eye for a few hours, they hadn’t taken things any further.

There were times when he thought that they might. He’d notice Clarke look at him sometimes with an unreadable expression but then she never pushed on and he hadn’t dared either.

And finally, he’d grown used to his crush. Okay, alright, it was probably the right moment to admit that he’d gone way past an innocent crush, straight to the point where he was completely in love with his best friend, who was standing now in front of him in complete disarray, snickering at her own joke. He grinned back at her.

“Nah, I don’t mind an audience,” he said and it pulled a surprised laugh out of Clarke.

She plopped down on one of the chairs that wasn’t occupied with cookies and propped her chin on her arm. “Seriously, Bellamy, I gotta do something with it. There’s only so much I can take to work before it starts gathering dust in the ER nurses’ station in the middle of flu season.”

Bellamy grabbed one of the trays, sat in its place and rested in on his knee. He took another cookie and munched on it a bit, an idea forming in his head.

“You could donate them,” he finally said and Clarke shot him a doubtful look. “You know we have that Winter Fair where the kids sell homemade ornaments, gifts and all that? It’s next weekend and maybe we could decorate them and sell those, too. It’s a noble cause, so you’ll even get your pre-Christmas good deed, get on Santa’s good side.”

She looked at him sideways, “That’s actually not a bad idea,” she admitted. “You know, as long as you’re not decorating anything, we want to _attract_ customers, not scare them away.” She grinned, showing him all her teeth. “But yeah, let’s do that. Which project are you championing this year, anyway?”

And that was the whole idea behind the Fair. The money that would be raised was to be spent in whatever way the student body decided. As soon as the money was counted and the earnings announced, both students and faculty members had the chance to submit their ideas that would fit within that budget, and later on, the students would vote for the winner. It was an idea introduced by Principal Kane a few years back and at first, everyone was a bit sceptical but it caught on pretty quickly. The kids were much more interested in the whole thing if they knew they could make their ideas come true. And some of the proposals were so impressively detailed and well-thought that they always made Bellamy feel quite proud of his students.

“A proper servicing of the library air conditioning unit,” Bellamy told her and Clarke snorted. “What? You told me yourself it’s not healthy, with all the mould and bacteria gathering there.” She pursed her lips, and waved her hand, encouraging him to keep going. “And the buzzing and knocking is annoying me because I’m an old, old man,” he deadpanned. “Happy?”

“Ecstatic.”

 

***

 

“So.” Raven plopped on the chair next to Clarke’s. She stretched her leg in front of her and massaged her thigh.

Clarke was decorating the second hundred of her ginger bread cookies and she just put the finishing touches on the one painted like a Stormtrooper. She examined her work and put it aside to dry, satisfied. She looked sideways at her friend. “So?”

“A little birdie just told me that you’re helping with this year’s Winter Fair.” Raven smirked and Clarke knowingly. “I thought you were making a poster or a couple of clay pots, not taking care of suppling the whole food section all by yourself.”

Clarke rolled her eyes. “A little birdie, seriously?”

“Okay, fine, I heard a couple of my students talking before classes, saying that Mr. Blake’s friend is lending a hand. It seemed like a safe bet to assume they meant you. You know, not even those kids with vested interests in getting that money take it this far.”

Things were a little awkward with Raven at first, when Clarke learnt that her ex’s ex-girlfriend not only worked with Bellamy but was also one of his good friends. They would eye each other from the distance but finally decided that the idiot who wasn’t even a part of either one of their lives would not stand between them. Slowly they got to know each other and soon the heartbreak they both went through turned into an amusing anecdote about the beginnings of their friendships and Clarke couldn’t be happier about it because Raven was great. A little rough around the edges but a fantastic friend and aa absolutely brilliant mind that Clarke truly admired.

Well, most of the times she did. Now though, she definitely wished Raven wasn’t so bloody perceptive. Clarke struggled with her crush on Bellamy for a few months before finally realising that it’s not just going to go away but it took Raven all of three minutes of watching her with Bellamy that evening to call Clarke out on her feelings and she’d been teasing her about it ever since.

“You know I didn’t do it on purpose, Raven,” Clarke said going back to decorating. That cookie is gonna look like Indiana Jones, she decided. “You’ve laughed about it already. And Bellamy came up with a good idea, why wouldn’t I do it?” she asked, picking up the icing.

“Uh huh, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it gives you a perfect excuse to spend more time with him.”

Clarke looked at Raven and made a face. “I don’t need an excuse to spend time with my best friend.”

“No, but it sure is nice to have one, so you can tell yourself you’re not just feeding your crush.” Raved grabbed one of the still blank cookies and waved it in front of Clarke’s face before biting on it, as if she wanted to punctuate her point. “Why can’t you just ask him out? He’s definitely gonna say yes.”

“Yeah, and then what?”

“Well, I thought they’d at least told you that in med school, if you didn’t know already.” Raven winked and Clarke groaned.

“Where is your girlfriend to distract you when I need her.”

“Ha, bloody ha.” Raven grimaced and patted Clarke’s arm. “Gina’s not gonna help you now, she thinks the same as I. We all do! We’re two steps from setting up a betting pool but we’re afraid we’d be too optimistic.”

Clarke sent her an unimpressed glare but Raven only snickered. “Or don’t do anything and we’re gonna keep laughing at you.”

“Thank you, Raven, you’re no help at all.”

“That’s so not what I’m here for,” Raven grinned at her and Clarke just went back to decorating with a resigned sigh.

 

***

 

It wasn’t like Clarke hadn’t thought about how it would be with Bellamy or that she hadn’t been aware that he might at the very least be interested in her. After all, there were a few moments at the beginning of their friendship when she thought that they were but a few steps away from something happening between them. Yet the timing was never quite right and she was always a little worried about taking the first step herself.

The relationship she had with Bellamy was—enough. Not everything she might’ve wanted but she still felt safe and happy, and cared for. And every time she felt like maybe this was the moment, she Clarke would remember her apathy after her break up with Lexa, Bellamy’s anger after Gina left. How after the initial shock had passed, they talked and talked about everything that went wrong despite their best intentions.

She remembered all that and she knew just how much worse it would be if things between them were to fall apart. And if this time, they wouldn’t have each other to help them get through it.

But then Bellamy would put his arm around her shoulders, bring her closer to his side and kiss her hair absentmindedly and a tiny voice in Clarke’s head would tell her that maybe it would be worth falling one more time, if he were there to catch her.

 

***

 

This year’s Winter Fair was scheduled for the last weekend before Christmas. Everyone involved in organising it had been working since Thursday, setting up the stands and making sure that all of them were assigned and ready to go. 

Bellamy knocked on Clarke’s door at half past eight on the Saturday morning. They didn’t have to be at school for another hour but he knew that it would be safer to just go to her earlier in case Clarke had slept through her alarm clock. Again.

There was a muffled sound that answered him and then footsteps before Clarke opened the door, swallowing. She quickly returned to her couch, a bowl of cereal she’d been eating and an episode of _Scrubs_ playing on TV. Bellamy helped himself to a cup of coffee before joining her.

“I wish I could complain about you checking up on me and making sure I’m up but I don’t think I have a leg to stand up here, do I?” Clarke teased as she put down the empty bowl and picked up her own coffee. She grinned at him and Bellamy felt a tiny pang of longing for the domesticity of the situation. As much as he enjoyed himself now, he wished he didn’t have to come in here first.

Every once in a while, Bellamy would get an inkling that maybe he wasn’t the only one holding back but if Clarke wasn’t ready or willing to take it any further, he certainly wouldn’t push.

“Nope,” he said, cocking his eyebrow. “You know, I sometimes wonder if it would be possible to get you one of those foghorns but then I remember when the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night after Octavia’s wedding and we all flew out of our rooms within minutes and you just kept on sleeping. We had to come in and check if you were actually still alive.” He smirked at her and Clarke elbowed him gently in his side, careful not to spill their drinks.

“You’re gonna remind me of that for the rest of our lives, aren’t you?” she asked with an exasperated sigh but her eyes were smiling at him.

“Until I get a better one, yeah.”

 

***

 

The Winter Fair was going quite well and Clarke’s ginger bread popular culture characters were a hit. Bellamy told her she didn’t really have to stay there at all but since he was semi-responsible for the stand and the money the kids earned, there was no way she was going anywhere.

Clarke loved watching Bellamy interact with his students. He was demanding but he treated them with fairness and respect, and always made sure they’d know they could come to him with every problem and he’d at least try to help them.

But he was also grumpy, sarcastic and full of historical trivia and lame jokes which always gave Clarke an amazing opportunity to make fun of him, to which Bellamy always responded with a glare and a barely-hidden smile, and that was always fun.

Clarke and Bellamy had been called over to the backstage of the Fair to help bring in more merchandise and when they came back, she noticed a couple of Bellamy’s students giggling and whispering to each other in the corner. She looked around and then above them and there it was—a sprig of mistletoe hanging above their heads.

Clarke nudged Bellamy’s foot with her own and pointed upwards when she got his attention. Bellamy groaned at the sight and looked back at the girls.

“Harper, Zoe, what’s it doing here?” he asked and both girls grinned at him, showing off their teeth.

“Hanging,” one of them said, a bit smugly and the other girl tugged at one of her friend’s long braids.

Bellamy looked at them, unimpressed. “You two know perfectly well that the school doesn’t allow mistletoe.”

“Yeah, because they didn’t want to give the students more excuses to make out on every corner and clogging up the corridors. And we’re not making out in a corridor, so it’s fine,” the other girl answered before pulling her friend away from them.

Bellamy blew a raspberry and mumbled something about _them meddling kids_ and Clarke smiled to herself. _Now or never_ , she thought. She shot him a quick glanced and the an even quicker look-around to see if there weren’t anyone near them. She let out a breath of air and gently pressed her lips against his.

He froze for an instant but then recovered, putting a hand on her cheek and keeping her close. He looked around them, too, and then back at Clarke.

“Are you sure?” His voice was barely above a whisper and Clarke nodded gently, smiling.

He smiled back and kissed her, a little longer and a little harder than she did but they were still at school, so his mouth was soon gone, way too quickly for her liking. Clarke could feel a blush creeping up her face and Bellamy brushed his thumb over her cheekbone.

They pulled away from each other when they heard footsteps approaching their booth. They stayed apart for the rest of the day but they kept brushing against each other and every time it happened, they’d smile, a little bashfully like they were teenagers again.

Once the Fair had ended and they gathered their things, they left their booth holding hands. In the corner of her eye, Clarke noticed Raven, leaning against a table, her leg propped on an overturned crate, looking as smug as it was humanly possible.

 

***

 

On the New Year’s morning Bellamy woke up with a bird nest of blonde hair tickling his chin. It was still relatively early, the world outside still asleep in the half-darkness. He and Clarke hosted a party in her apartment, simply because it looked more festive with all the decorations Clarke mass-produced over the last few weeks. Well, that and they would’ve had ended there anyway. They stayed at Bellamy’s once and when they went over to Clarke’s the next day, Charlie looked at them like she’d just experienced the greatest betrayal in the world and sulked behind the Christmas tree for the rest of the day, only coming out for food.

The party was small and rather modest since Octavia was 6 months pregnant and they all decided to stop drinking in solidarity. His sister was determined to stay up till midnight but as soon as they all wished one another a happy New Year she let out a loud yawn and announced that she was done. The rest of them followed soon after, knowing they all had to be at work on Monday morning anyway.

And now, Clarke was laying on her stomach, her face tucked against Bellamy’s shoulder and her cat sleeping on the backs of her knees. He turned to his side a little and pushed a few strands of her hair away from Clarke’s face. He brushed his fingers against her cheek which must’ve woken her up because she started to stir and stretch which in turned jostled the cat. Charlie looked up at them disapprovingly and jumped off the bed, leaving the bedroom.

“You think we’ve offended her?” Clarke asked, her voice rough with sleep and Bellamy chuckled. His hand was now travelling up and down her arm and she moved to prop herself on his chest.

They looked at each other in silence, just being together. At first, Bellamy was a little worried if maybe they should’ve been moving a little slower instead of jumping into bed as soon as they were back home. But then they woke up on the very next morning and Clarke asked him the exact same thing and all of a sudden he knew that they’d already waited long enough.

And now, they’d been together for all of two weeks and he’d never been more sure about anything in his whole life.

He hugged he closer to him and Clarke nuzzled into the crook of his neck.

“I love you.” She said it so quietly that he barely heard it but then she raised her head, looking his straight in the eye with joy but also a faint hint of uncertainty, one that he couldn’t blame her for.

Bellamy bent his head, moving closer to her and just before his lips touched her he said “I love you, too” and kissed her, neither of them caring how their wide smiles were absolutely getting in the way. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading, feedback would be welcomed like manna.
> 
> come and visit me on tumblr ([carrieeve](http://carrieeve.tumblr.com)), we can scream about our favourite characters together.
> 
> and Merry Christmas!


End file.
